Literary Pauses = Soul Travel?

I must write something today. It's been almost 3 weeks since my last entry, and even that entry was a video to reflect on, but not much of my own reflection.

I've noticed that my at-home journaling goes this way too. There are weeks where I think and write almost every day....and then there are bouts when I'm just blank, dry, in hibernation with my thoughts. I'm not really sure WHY I disappear (literarily speaking) for significant periods of time, but as long as noone is handing out consistency points, I'll be okay, I guess.

While my life seems so normal to me (and sometimes even boring), I realize that it's not typical. The whole "the world is getting smaller" thing seems to show up a lot for me as a foreigner living outside my own country. Criss-crossing the globe and international connections have never been more common....

2 weeks ago Ruben and I went to see Carlota, a special friend that I just started to get to know 14 months ago, just before our wedding. She's one of the first that is "our friend," rather than "his friend" or "her friend."

She was born of Mexican and American parents and has lived in Barcelona the last 20+ years as a missionary. She is very talented and always serving and giving. Over time this can take its toll on the most "good and faithful servant."

So, she's taking a 9-month sabbatical and she's heading all over Asia and the South Pacific. Our goodbyes were short and sweet, more of a "see you later," with the hope that we'll connect again soon, although "where?" is not clear right now.

1 week ago I traveled to Germany for a special training for work. I was with a group of 20 people, all living in Europe (although the majority were Americans.) Both evenings I had a chance to dine with 3 other American women from my organization. I would consider them friends, although the last time I saw each of them was 7 months ago, 1 1/2 years ago and 12 years ago respectively. 2 live in Germany and the other lives in Florida. The Florida friend came to Germany for some meetings and then was headed to Brasil for a conference. Many who live this "global lifestyle" have long mastered the "catching up where we left off" style of connecting. It was a special treat in the midst of my current European living to "pick up where I left off," not only with these 3 friends, but also with the residue of the American culture that they carry with them.

And just to top things off, Ruben and I scraped our pennies together and one week from now we will be taking our own Roman holiday (just a hop, skip and a jump from Barcelona) to celebrate our first year anniversary. Hopefully we'll get to have a cappuccino with another American friend who now calls Italy home.

So, do those stories make the globe seem smaller? (However small it is, I'm glad it's not me making that flight from Germany to Brasil!)

As I've been writing I think I've come up with at least one theory. I think part of the "pause" could be connected to the amount of travel at any given time. It's possible that the more I travel, the longer the pause. This reminds of a story that Brue Chatwin, a travel writer, shared years ago about a comment from an African tribesman.

"A white explorer in Africa, anxious to press ahead with his journey, paid his porters for a series of forced marches. But they, almost within reach of their destination, set down their bundles and refused to budge. No amount of extra payment would convince them otherwise. They said they had to wait for their souls to catch up."-- Bruce Chatwin

The African porter's comment may sound a bit superstitous, but I do think there's some wisdom to his response. In a material world where time is money and we travel at the speed of sound, the reality of my multi-dimensional status cries out. I am physical and intellectual and emotional and also spiritual. Because the spiritual part is unseen it's easy to ignore at times; but because it's a significant part of being human and intertwined with the rest of me, I find that I am healthier and happier when I am sure to allow for regular if not constant care of this aspect of me, in addition to the physical and the emotional.

After logging in and reflecting on my month (and my life) of supersonic travel, I think my soul is about to arrive, should be here any minute! ;-) So, I'm going to sign off now. Hope your life will be balanced with important busyness and moments to pause and wait for your soul to catch up.

P.S. In thinking through this entry, I stumbled across an author named Cecile Andrews who has an interesting book called Slow Is Beautiful. I listened an interview with her via podcast. I don't agree with everything she says, it is interesting. Click here if you'd like to check it out.